This invention relates to a printing apparatus including a printing section for converting information into printed form.
Conventional printing apparatus include a printing section defined between a platen and a printing head mounted for movement in parallel with the platen for scanning a printing medium fed into the printing section by means of at least one pair of feed rollers. The printing medium includes a single printing medium guide path for guiding the printing medium to the nip of the feed rollers. In order to meet the usual criteria of space requirement, the guide path has an entrance portion opening upward for entry of the printing medium and a discharge portion curved toward the nip of the feed rollers. Although such conventional printing apparatus are satisfactory for normal applications using thin or flexible printing mediums, serious problems will occur for thick or inflexible printing mediums. In addition, it is impossible to print data over the entire range of a printing medium from its upper end to its lower end.